Microsoft continues to defend its sagging Windows RT operating system. So far one of the only products that run the operating system is Microsoft's own Surface RT tablet, which has seen very low sales. Earlier this month, sales of the Microsoft Surface family of tablets missed targets and analysts reduced their sales forecasts.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer continues to insist that Surface is a "real business", but sales figures suggest otherwise. Major Microsoft partner Samsung has announced that it won't be releasing a Windows RT tablet in the United States because of poor demand. Samsung has left the door open to introduce a RT device later if the market demands it. So far, that demand seems unlikely.

CNET recently had an interview with Microsoft corporate vice president for Windows planning Michael Angiulo. During the talk the Microsoft executive spent some time focusing on what makes Windows RT important for Microsoft.

Angiulo stated, "It was a ton of work for us and we didn't do the work and endure the disruption for any reason other than the fact that there's a strategy there that just gets stronger over time. Looking at things now like power performance and standby time and passive [fanless] form factors. When we launched windows 8, it was really competitive with a full-sized iPad. A lot of that was made possible by the ARM [chip] architecture."

In addition, Angiulo talked a bit about complaints of legacy software not working on Windows RT. He said, "People are talking about legacy desktop software not running, but they don't think about the customer benefit of only running modern apps. The only apps that you install from the Windows store are the kind, that as a customer, you can manage your rights to."

Angiulo also believes that ARM-powered tablets will have a higher percentage shipping that feature mobile broadband because the devices have longer battery life the comparable Intel platform devices. Battery life is a big selling factor for ARM-powered devices, and increased power consumption continues to be a downside to Intel hardware in the tablet and mobile market.

ARM may be not so terrible in iPad, but it sucks balls in Surface RT. Hence choosing Tegra 3 for Surface was a huge mistake that will cost MS billions in the long run. If they went with Clover Trail, they would get much better sales, but now it's too late. They fucked it up real bad, I dunno if consumers will ever buy Surface brand again after such a horrible start. Or more like a shameful flop instead of a start. People, it's Zune all over again. That's what Tony will tell ya but remember that I said it first. Piss off Tony! This catch phrase is mine now! muahahaha

ARM doesn't suck balls on Surface RT. You've got the concept backwards. Surface RT sucks balls on ARM. This isn't a problem with ARM. iOS and Linux (Android) run beautifully on it. This is a problem with Surface RT. This is Microsoft's inability to develop good code that is tuned for ARM.

To their defense, Microsoft has always treated non-x86 platforms as second class citizens, with half-hearted ports of Windows on MIPS and Alpha, for example. It's no wonder they don't have the talent on staff to develop for ARM.